GARETH Ainsworth celebrates his third anniversary as Wanderers manager today and on Saturday he will look to mark that milestone by extending the club’s proud unbeaten away record at a side he owes one.


Exeter were the first team to beat Wycombe on their travels last season, putting a rare dent into the record of a manager who has gone from strength to strength since his first full season in charge when Wanderers needed a final day of the season win at Torquay to stay in the Football League.


That Houdini escape in South Devon was the transformation of Ainsworth as a manager and from the brink of adversity he has transformed the club’s fortunes and become one of the game’s most highly rated up-and-coming managers.


He said: “Looking back at surviving on the last day of the season there are many managers who would have got the sack because the club was in a bad situation, the worst it’s ever been in.


“I’m not going to dress it up and say what a great achievement staying up was. That final day was a great achievement but the season was a huge learning curve and it really spurred me on to learn more and to change my attitude a lot on management and change the way I did things.


“When I took the reins I didn’t put my stamp on the club enough. I didn’t take those responsibilities as quickly as I should have. It was absolute inexperience. I was wet behind the ears. It doesn’t matter what coaching courses you go on, doing the job is totally different.”


Ainsworth described that Torquay survival day as a ‘kick up the backside’. He turned reflection into reaction and hasn’t looked back since. That defeat at Exeter last term was one of only two away defeats all season as he transformed Wycombe from relegation favourites to play-off finalists in a season in which he was crowned League Two Manager of the Year.


Ainsworth said: “That Torquay experience is one of the most important days of my managerial career and I will still be saying that in 10 years. There’s nothing I can say that will do justice to describe how I felt and how much I learned from it.


“I knew I couldn’t do what I had done that year. It hadn’t worked, so I made some vital decisions. I had to do what I thought was right and just go for it. And it worked.”


He changed from Gaz to Gaffer and put his imprint on the squad and the entire club, making brave choices like sacrificing a player for a sports scientist along the way.


He said: “That was a decision which I am not sure I would have made a year earlier but it proved to be the right one. These were big decisions. I just had to say ‘Sod it, go for it’ because it couldn’t have got any worse than last year.”


He said: “I’ve been lucky that I have had time to learn it but a lot of managers don’t get time. Andrew Howard coming in as chairman has been crucial.


“He worked on me as hard as he did on any other part of this club. He worked on me as a person as much as he worked on the books. I am very lucky to have met him and he’s played a big part in me becoming a better manager.


“He’s not a football person, I have always had that side of things. I can take things and grasp things within football but I probably didn’t know how to get that out from me to be this manager type of person, Andrew recognised that early and I’m very grateful he did.”